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A large number of GPs have said they would be worse off under the formula used to weight income according to local health care needs.

The BMA said yesterday that it needed more time to make sure that doctors properly understood what they were being offered, and to clarify whether concern about the deal was justified.

Under the proposals, money would be redistributed to the most deprived regions. The new contract would put an extra £1.9 billon into general practice in Britain over three years, taking the total to £8 billion by 2006.

Dr John Chisholm, chairman of the BMA GPs' committee, said last month that the proposed deal should mean GPs receiving pay increases of between 10 and 50 per cent over the three-year period.

But half of doctors have now calculated that they would earn less money under the proposals. At one meeting in Surrey, 80 per cent of GPs reportedly said they would not agree to the new deal.

If the contract has to be renegotiated, it could seriously damage government plans to reform primary care.